Chapter 3

Christina sat in the corner of the booth with her knees drawn to her chest, hidden in the deep robes loaned by the young man opposite her. The panic had reduced her mind to a glazed numbness, incapable of any semblance of conscious thought. How she had arrived at what appeared to her to be a diner was fogged over by the temporarily controlled but not neglected fear. The men who had stopped her, whoever they were, radiated the same power she was fleeing from, a fact which, despite their apparent differences, would not let her succumb to the peace she felt tempted to fall into.

When the alien waiter approached the booth she cringed and tried to sink further into the hood. Closing her eyes she made a futile attempt to ignore the strange being's existence, foiled by the coarse gargling voice that was anything but human. The longer the being stayed at her side the more agitated she became. The man across from her spoke casually with it for a moment, then glancing at his newly acquired charge diplomatically sent the giant away. From somewhere outside the shell she was hastily building for herself she heard the gentle voice call her name. Frantic to hide within herself she tried to ignore it until a hand resting on her shoulder brought her eyes to meet the gentle green eyes before her.

His lips moved, she could see that. She watched them form words without recognizing the motions or registering sound. The hum of the diner faded into a white buzz that deafened her to all but its force swirling through the rough canvas hood about her ears. Obi-wan took his hand from her shoulder, searching for a way to ease the girl's discomfort, and when he did her lips parted.

After several moments of silence she asked quietly, 'Where am I?'

Obi-wan blinked, pushing his emotions away. 'You're on Coruscant,' he answered, smiling gently and hoping that information would be of some comfort to her.

Christina merely shook her head, her throat constricting around the unformed words. Her eyes glazed over and stared past the man into the darkness beyond the windows. She watched a four armed creature scratch its small elephant-like snout outside before the door swished opened to admit his stringy body. A small fur-covered creature bumped its way past the entrant, mumbling words impossibly formed from an beak-like mouth before exiting.

'This can't be real,' she whispered without thinking.

'I'm sorry?' the man asked, leaning forward slightly.

'You're not real,' she said, her eyes moistening with tears that by all rights should have long been dried up. She looked directly at Obi-wan, her eyes clear for the first time since she ran into them. 'None of this is real. It can't be.'

Obi-wan watched silently, unsure of what to say or do as he watched her debate reason and sight. She closed her eyes and held her breath, her trembling shoulders just barely visible under the bulk of his robe. Tears smeared themselves over her hollow cheeks as her head bowed toward her knees.

'Breathe,' he said, reaching across the table to touch her shoulder. When he received no response he shook her gently before touching her moist skin and pulling her face upward. 'Breathe. You need to breathe.'

Christina gasped and her body lurched forward with a sob, pulling away from the comforting hand clutching her knees as tight as she could.

'Whatever happened, it's over. You're safe with us.'

'No, no I'm not,' she said into the thick fabric. 'They'll find me, and I'll die. No. He'll come after me. He'll do it again, and I can't stop him. He'll have his way, and I will die. Either way, I'm not going home. Home's not here, I don't know where here is. I can't go home. He found me there, I can't go back. I don't know where I am.'

Obi-wan glanced around in search of his master as she continued to speak into her knees, her shoulders shaking and her voice muffled so that the words were barely audible across the table. The taller man had just re-entered, and Obi-wan rose to meet him.

'Master,' he greeted.

Christina shot up, her eyes glazed once again, this time staring into the unseen distance. Her stomach clenched within her, her blood running cold. The remaining tears mingled with the wetness on her cheeks unheeded as her mouth fell open, her eyes widened, and she stopped breathing.

'Christina, breathe!' Obi-wan called to her, quickly seating himself next to her and turning her head toward him. Her eyes stared vacantly through him, unaffected by the physical.

Qui-Gon put his hand on his apprentice's shoulder to move him out of the way and took the young man's seat. 'Christina, what do you see?' he asked, eliciting a confused look from the boy.

She gave him no response. Trying to capture some of her focus, Qui-Gon cupped her face in both hands, gently jostling her vision and calling her for to breathe until a tinge of lucidity flashed across and she drew in a shaking breath. When the blue hue passed from her lips he asked her again.

'Tell me what you see,' he commanded gently.

'I can't see him,' she whispered, her voice strained without air. Her lungs spasmed and crushed her chest, choking the rest of her words as she breathed out, 'but he's there.'

'Breathe,' Qui-Gon chanted quietly, stroking her cheeks in rhythm to sync her breathing with his.

'He knows,' she said, her eyes snapping to attention and focusing on his.

'Who?'

Christina shook her head, tearing again. 'I don't know,' she cried, holding herself in as much as she could.

Qui-Gon released the young woman only to pull her into his arms in an embrace which she did not resist. Stroking her head through his padawan's robe, he tried to soothe her distress as he searched for the path her mind had just released. The ends were unspun and scattered, dancing through time in broken images and feelings. Overwhelmingly he sensed her fear, a pure terror driven from something external and unabated by her separation from it. Releasing a part of himself, Qui0Gon drifted on the currents of that fear, traveling with it through the alleys and corridors of the city-planet into a dark room where a void captured and imprisoned the Force, stealing away from the Jedi Master the rest of the threads.

Outside of the diner a shadow watched, staring at the men inside hovering over the small woman. Below the core of him stirred his loathing of their religion, of everything they stood for and everything they did. He had been ordered to retrieve her, but not at the expense of a confrontation. Whatever ill stroke of luck had driven her into their hands stayed his and spared her for now. Whatever the case, the Jedi would not permit her to kill the child as she had before, and so with patience it would be returned to his master in time. The Sith had mastered patience over the centuries of waiting for the right time. So near now, it would not be sacrificed for such a trivial matter.

She could feel him watching her, but she did not know from where. His eyes were every where. They followed her from the room, though they had not been there. He saw her from a distance. There was no way to escape them, not in the mess of inhuman life teeming across the layers of whatever unknown and godforsaken place she was in. The strong arms around her warmed the surface of her fears and calmed her sobbing to tears alone, but little more. These men said she was safe, but there was nothing in them that could equal the terrible strength and power of the demon and his lord.

Obi-wan turned and looked into the street, his eyes digging into the shadows for the elusive sense. He turned back to see her blood-shot eyes focused into the darkness beyond him.

A/N: My apologies for this chapter sucking... haha, it's been almost 2 years! Scratches head I need to get back into the Star Wars universe... I miss it...